Recent developments have resulted in new and improved computer programs or agents that simulate intelligent conversations with one or more human users. Such interactive speech services are sometimes referred to as “chatbots” or “chatterbots.” Apple Inc.'s iOS operating system provides a SIRI® personal assistant, as one example of a voice-activated personal agent that can understand human speech and act based on a specified set of actions. SIRI is registered trademark of Apple Inc. Personal agents can be used today for both enterprise and consumer services using either chat or speech.
Currently available personal agents are understood to operate in a dialog form, sometimes referred to as a “tic-tac flow” format. Namely, the user says something and the machine responds. The user may follow with another instruction to which the machine similarly responds. Such interactions can be considered synchronous, e.g., in that machine responses immediately follow or are otherwise synchronized to a preceding dialog.